The Iowa Extension Council Association (IECA) has retained the law firm of Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C for consultation and education in the areas of Labor and Employment Practice for IECA member counties. Whitfield & Eddy is based out of Des Moines and serves private, non-profit, and public-sector clients throughout the state of Iowa. Kay Osvig employment law attorney will be the lead attorney working with IECA.
Whitfield & Eddy provides IECA and its members with the following services:
- Ongoing communication on current and developing issues in all areas of law
- Email Alerts: when new issues arise that may affect county councils
- Legal Updates: short legal updates will be provided that will be posted on IECA web site and included in IECA newsletters.
- Webinar Q&A sessions for employment-related questions providing “do’s and don’ts” in the supervision of employees.
- Labor and Employment Practice educational webinars
- Consultation for a limited number of hours concerning issues councils may be addressing in the area of labor and employment practices, lease agreements, contracts and other legal matters.
If council members have a wish to consult with Whitfield & Eddy about a legal matter involving their council, they should follow the process below:
- Identify if there are currently existing resources that would be able to answer your council’s questions/concerns. Existing resources may include the following:
- The IECA website – Resources tab, Human Resources tab and Council Training Materials
- Your Regional Director
- An extension council member should contact Jennifer Vit, IECA Executive Director. She will ask some general questions to help determine if Whitfield & Eddy is the best resource to help you. She will also monitor county usage of the consultation service so as not to exceed one hour per half year. Note: Jennifer will only ask general questions so as not to endanger attorney/client privilege. All information will be kept confidential.
- Communication with Whitfield & Eddy must be with an extension council member(s) only or an official designee of the council because of attorney/client privilege. The decision to involved person(s) other than council members will be made by Kay Osvig at Whitfield & Eddy. All information will be kept confidential.
- If a county council requires additional legal services after consultation with Whitfield & Eddy, the council may follow up on the identified issues with its regular legal counsel or may decide to utilize Whitfield & Eddy. At this point, the council will be directly responsible for payment of fees for their continued services with Whitfield & Eddy.
Please contact IECA Executive Director Jennifer Vit, with any questions.